


A Cup of Jason

by timeisntreal



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bad Pickup Lines, College AU, M/M, implied!teacher-student relationship, platonic!donna/jason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 07:22:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5657608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timeisntreal/pseuds/timeisntreal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. This is fanwork only.</p><p>Jason knows the rumors about students sleeping with Professor Bruce Wayne to get good grades are false. But that doesn't mean he can't want to get to know the charismatic college teacher.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Cup of Jason

"Rush hour's comin' up," his coworker says, monotone. The clock just struck noon, and classes would be dismissed anytime from then and 12:30PM. That means a sea of people flooding them with orders. Only the two of them work today.

"Yup," Jason sighs and rolls up his sleeves. The weather was starting to cool down; Winter is on its way. "Same old, same old." He says.

"Wanna make a bet?" His coworker asks, slight challenge in her tone.

"If there's money involved, I won't shake on it," Jason crossed his arm and raises a brow.

She lets out a half-hearted chuckle. "No, I'm not talking about a real bet, Jason. I was thinkin' more like: whoever guesses the amount of people who take longer than a minute to order has to clean up by themselves," they work the afternoon shift, which means they are in charge of closing the cafe. Jason narrows his eyes.

"You're on, Donna," he agrees to the challenge, smirk forming on his lips.

She returns the half-smile with a fierce look in her eyes. Jason always wants to wipe that expression right off her face. "All right. I'd say at least seven people will take longer than a minute to order," she decides.

"Damn. I was gonna say that...I'm gonna bet ten," Jason declares.

"You're on." She stands upright as a customer shyly approaches the register.

During the rush, Jason switches with Donna to work the register (without words, thanks a lot, Donna). He quickly hands a pair of students their cups of tea and isn't paying attention to who the next customer is until he looks up. He quickly licks his lips, mouth suddenly dry. "Hey, it's Dr. Bruce Wayne himself! How nice of you to visit," Jason teases and offers a quirky smile. He consciously hopes it looks attractive. Maybe even flirty.

"Please, just Bruce is fine," Bruce Wayne, a literature professor known for his cold demeanor but friendly personality. Not only that, there are ugly rumors going around that the quickest way to raise your grade is to sleep with him. But there is no proof of Bruce having sexual relations with any student. Jason is curious; Bruce is a mysterious guy, and he hasn't heard of a student or teacher that is friends with him. If there are any, there are only a very select few. Luckily, Jason knows most of them, but they don't talk about him much.

"Why, is Dr. Bruce Wayne too stiff? Too formal for a student like me to use? You trying to 'connect' with students?" He teases again.

Bruce sighs as he takes out his wallet. "You don't give me a break, do you, Jason,"

Jason blew out a low whistle. "I'm surprised you remember my name,"

"You're a pretty memorable guy," Bruce's tone is light, humorous even. The observation makes something twist in Jason's gut. Maybe he was getting to him. "Could I have some drip coffee? I have a meeting with a student soon, and I ran out of coffee beans,"

"Gee, I dunno Bruce. Seems a bit expensive, don'tchya' think?" Jason snickers. Drip coffee was one of the cheapest beverages on the menu. Bruce makes a show of dramatically looking into his thick wallet. He looks up after and feigns a crestfallen expression(?). "Oh, it's just too bad. I don't have enough," Bruce exaggerates playfully. "Maybe I could get a cup of you instead?" He leans forward and lowers his voice, so much so Jason strains his ears to hear him and almost wants Bruce to repeat himself. Instead, he blushes at the sudden forwardness and hopes to the high heavens no one else heard that. Then, Bruce clicks his tongue and continues before Jason could make a comeback. "What am I thinking? I can't have you either. All the money I have can't buy you."

Jason hopes his freckles were dark and plentiful enough they could hide his blush. "Damn right it can't," he says quickly, and slaps himself mentally for not thinking of something better to say.

At that moment, Donna elbows Jason in the side. It actually hurt, and Jason holds in a grimace. "You're holdin' up the line, lover boy." She not-so-subtlety whispers to him. Jason blushes again at the nickname that Bruce obviously hears (he heard him chuckle). "Sorry," he mutters and looks at Bruce again. "That'll be two dollars."

The professor hands him a five. He holds a hand up, palm facing out. "Keep the change." he says and shifts to leave. Jason is flustered. "B-Bruce, you serious?" He calls out as Bruce walks towards the pick-up area. When he doesn't reply, Jason huffs and rolls his eyes before returning to the signature Customer Service smile. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Donna give Bruce his coffee. He quickly turns his head just to see him leave. He catches his eyes and Bruce flashes a smile and wave with the coffee in his hands. Jason hopes Bruce saw him return the smile.

After the rush, Jason counted four people while Donna counted three, but the outcome was Jason lost the bet. Donna laughs a bit at his misery. "Ha!" She says aloud among the low hum of the union. She pats his shoulder, "Thanks, man. Truth is, I have an exam due this evening, and I only have an hour to do it,"

Jason gives her an incredulous look. "You could've just asked,"

"Aw, but where would the fun be in that? Besides, I'll make it up to you." she winks.

Jason rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

* * *

 

The following day, Jason gets a text from Donna during lunch.

_Remember how I said I'd make it up to you? There's a surprise for you after your lit class. ;)_

Jason replies with an _ok...wtf_  and receives no reply after that. In Bruce's literature analysis class, Bruce reaches out to Jason before he leaves. "Jason," he starts.

"What's up,  Bruce?" Jason replies, casual. He wonders if he did anything wrong or if he failed the latest quiz. Though, he expects he did the latter--it was his fault he let Roy drag him out to that mediocre party. Bruce shuffles his hands in his pockets, searching for something. He speaks as he does so, "Your latest quiz score..."

"Yeah, about that..." Jason rubbed the back of his neck.

"What happened? I know you can do better," Bruce looks up and meets Jason's gaze as he keeps his hand in his back pocket.

Jason glances at the wall next to him, then to the floor, before meeting Bruce's gaze again. "...I got sick. Twenty-four hour bug or something," he lies. The look on Bruce's face tells him Bruce knows he's lying. He sighs and takes something, a folded piece of paper, out of his pocket.

"All right, if you say so. If you'd like to retake it, just stop by my office. You know my hours. Before I let you go, I want you to have this," Bruce hands him the folded paper. Jason frowns and takes it, and Bruce turns to pack his bags. The next class's students began to enter the room.

"Bruce, what is...?" Jason starts to unfold it in his hand.

"Call the number when you've made your decision," Bruce flashes a smile so quick, if you blinked you would've missed it. "Have a good day, Jason." Bruce says and leaves the room. Jason walks out the room as well, finally unfolded the meticulously folded paper in his hand. "Yeah, you too Bruce." He replies off-handedly, more interested in the paper. It looks like he wrote it in a rush.

_I know a place that serves better coffee. You can trust me on that. Here's my number if you'd like to come with me sometime..._

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this on the way to my trip to Japan this past month. It's hardly edited, and it was just an idea I had floating in my head at one point. I apologize for the mistakes in this...also apologize for ooc-ness and the terrible pick-up lines. That's not Bruce's fault but mine. The summary is fake-deep too, I'm sorry about that. One more thing: I attempted present-tense...it was hard but I tried. Hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
